Happiness Runs, Happiness Dies
by DDRotaku
Summary: This is a sad, depressed little story following Vincent Valentine from early childhood through the rest of his life. Rated T for language, violence, the usual shtick. Chapters 8 and 9 are now up!
1. Chapter 1

Happiness Runs; Happiness Dies

DISCLAIMER: FFVII and it's characters, settings, ect. are properties of their respective owners and are not associated with me or anyone from my family. No matter how much I wish they were. Also I do not own Utada Hikaru or any of her songs, albums ect and I hpoe that what I wrote in here as dramatic tension never ACTUALLY happens to her... i just really admire her. XD

Chapter 1: First steps

Almost directly out of the delivery room, Vincents' parents had began teaching him Wutainese. His mother, Utada Hikaru- Valentine, was pure- blooded, born and raised in Wutai. His father, Grimoire, however, was French- Wutainese, as his parents were straight- up French and had moved to Wutai after his father had lost his job. Utada was a famous pop-star and as soon as word got out that she was having a baby, things really started heating up around the house. Even Prince Godo was in on things, though he was only ten at the time.

Vincent was five years old, now though and was constantly being brought in to work by his mother. He had memorized her tracks and albums by heart and could sing with the same passion as his mother. It was December 13th and Utada was getting ready for the 3rd photo-shoot this month. She was taking Vincent with her. As she started to walk out the front door, her husband stopped her. "Be careful..." he told her as he kissed her gently on the cheek "I love you." As she returned his kiss, she responded "I love you, too. And don't worry... I will be." She walked out the door, Vincent wrapped up in a blanket on her hip.

As they walked through the bustling streets of their hometown, a shadow moved swiftly behind them. Vincent turned to face his mother and began to say something, but was cut off by a gunshot ringing through the air. His mother collapsed, bleeding out of her stomach. Vincent saw the man as he ran off and turned once again to his mother. " Mommy? ...Mommy?...MOM?!" He shreiked as he tugged at his mom's kimono. "V-vincent..." she said in a shaky voice, looking up at her only child "Come here, sweetie.... let mommy hold you for a little while." The small boy did as he was told and curled up into his mothers' arms. "Don't worry... everything's gonna be alright." She tried to comfort him as he sobbed into her chest. He was only five... he didn't really understand the meaning of death... he couldn't understand what was going on... all he could truely do was listen to his mother and trust that she knew what to do. She sang softly to him as he drifted into a harsh sleep in her arms.

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"Nanda, get over here..." came a strange voice. "Woah... The kid's covered in blood... what in the world happened?" "I don't know, but it looks like we're in luck... he's got a Cell-phone on him." Vincent opened his eyes to see that his mother wasn't there. He looked up at the two men standing before him. Police Officers. Even a five- year- old could tell had his mothers' cell phone, looking through emergency contacts until they found his fathers' name. One of the officers, Nanda, bent over to look Vincent in the eyes. "Hey, kid... What are _you_ doin' around here so early in the mornin'? Where's your parents?" Vincent looked around him and told him "Mommy's not here... She... She's gone..." The taller officer looked at him questioningly "You mean she _was_ here before?" Vincent nodded. The two police-men looked at each other knowingly. "Hello?" The officer holding the phone said "Hello, this is sergeant Hideo of the Wutainese Police Department. I believe we have your son here." he turned to his partner and told him to ask the boy what his fathers' name was. Vincent was used to calling him 'dad' and couldn't quite pronounce his name right. "Gr- grim-war," he told them. "Yes, Mr. Valentine, uhh... Nanda, ask the kid what his name is..." As Nanda turned back to speak to Vincent, He got up and grabbed his moms' phone. "Dad? Dad, mommy's gone...No, she's... just gone... she was bleeding... someone shot her..." as he continued to speak with his father, he started crying. "Daddy..." he said, letting Grimoire _know_ something was wrong. Vincent only called him 'Daddy' if he was really upset. "Daddy, I'm _scared_! ...I'm really scared... please... come get me..." He choked between sobs as the Hideo took the phone back. "Nanda, get the kid. Sir, if you'll meet us up at the Police Station, you can pick up your son. We also need to speak with you for some questoning." Nanda picked Vincent up and put him in the back of the squad car.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Life Lesson

"Vincent?" He heard his fathers' voice coming from the hallway. Grimoire looked through the window of the room containing his son. The man jupmed slightly and slung open the door. "Vincent!" He ran over to his son and grabbed him up in his arms. Nanda and Hideo had told him what had happened to his wife. "Dad," Vincent said, clinging to his father "Dad, where's mommy?" Grimoire sighed "Mommy... returned to the planet."

Vincent shook his head as if he didn't understand. "Let me explain," his father said "She... that man... who shot her..." he cut off and looked away toward the window "He... killed her... so her body returned to the Lifestream." "Does that mean," the smaller began, tears forming in his eyes again "She- she's not... coming back?" Grimoire shook his head. For the first time, but not the last, in five years, Vincent saw his father cry. "Why?" He asked "Why did you take her?" "Who? Why did _who_ take mommy?" Grimoire looked at his son, brows furrowed as if he was in deep thought. "No one. No one took your was His timing; His plan... it was simply... her time to go." Who's 'He' dad?" His father looked at him lovingly and pointed toward the ceiling. "Oh..."

"Um... Mr. Valentine," began Hideo, "we've got some suspects lined up in the next room. We'll need your son." Grimoire nodded his head and motioned Vincent to follow him. As the three of them walked past the door, Vincent casted his gaze toward the ceiling again. 'Her time... His plan...' Hideo closed the door behind them.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Convict

In the Line- up Room ,Vincent saw a line of people through a two- way window. "These men," began the officer "are suspects. One of them might be the person who killed your mother. If you recognize him, wait untill the end of the session and tell me the number he was wearing, okay?" Vincent nodded his head. Hideo walked over to an intercom. "T6287," he said, "come forward." It wasn't him.

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Half an hour and about three line- ups later, they still had no luck. Hideo was getting restless, as was Grimoire. "F1225," he said tiredly "step forward." A younger man, around thirty stepped forth wearing a grey business suit. Vincent jumped back in his seat, hearing the sound of gunfire resounding through his head. He thrusted his arm and gripped his fathers' jacket.

Grimoire recognized him as well. He was Fuzaki Aramane, Utadas' old manager. Her publishing company forced her to fire him in order to strike their offer. She found him a better job at a Production company nearby, but he still hated her for firing him.

Grimoire shifted his gaze to his son. He looked back at Fuzaki, then his son again. Vincent, trembling at the sight of the man, tightened his hold. "Vincent," said his father, stroking his hair again "don't worry. Everything's going to be alright. He can't see that you're up here..." Vincent knew that he meant well, but even his fathers' calming words couldn't settle his mind.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Motivation

Three days later, on the day of the trial, an event occured that would be Vincents' motivaion to join the Turks.

A knock came at the door as Vincent and Grimoire were getting ready to leave. "Mr. Valentine," he heard as he opened the door "I'm afraid... something's happened..." Officer Hideo," replied the stunned man " It's a pleasure to see you again... What seems to be the problem?"

"Fuzaki, the man who killed your wife," he beagn "He...escaped from custody... he killed two of my men... Including Nanda."

Vincent, who had walked by the door at the time, thinking that his father had intendid them to get into the car to go to court over the case, stopped in his tracks. He almost seemed to be going in slow motion as he heard the words coming out of the officer's mouth combined with the shock and dispair in his father's now widened eyes. Suddenly, his mind was filled with both terror and rage. Terror at the thought of a madman like Fuzaki being able to run free and rage toward both the WPD for letting such a thing happen and at Fuzaki himself. He swore then and there that he would do everything in his power- when he was old enough- to stop this "disease" from spreading.

Over coffee, Hideo seemed to be doing all of the talking and Grimoire simply listened, speechless. He had sent Vincent to his room, afraid of frightening the poor child any further.

He sat alone in his room, attempting to listen in on the adult's conversation. His room was far enough away from the living room to where he couldn't make out everything they were saying. He managed to overhear the words "Faked", "cramps" and "off- guard" and short phrases; "Hijacked a gun" and "killed Nanda". Vincent suddenly, without knowing it, slammed his hands against his ears, shutting out the faint voices of his father and Hideo. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he pictured it in his head. That kind, smart young officer getting killed by the same man who murdered his mother. Then he relived the nightmare again.... his mother, blood slowly dripping from her lip...

"Koi wo shitte... uwari wo suke," she sang softly to her son, still sobbing into her chest "shikaru takowa sansha ii keti wo heartbreak... Sakura Sae... kanse wo sosage...unmete yakate... owasosuga seyo..." Her son had fallen asleep in her arms and she began humming the tune. She kissed his head softly and whispered to him one last time. "I love you, Vincent... I always have..."

Sometime during the night, Utada returned to the Planet.

(A/N: WOAAAH!!! Cliffhanger... running out of ideas... need help... and coffee.. I can take care of the second one myself... if you guys have any suggestions, I'm open. Plz feel free to submit.)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Search is Over

Five years had past since that day. The WPD had found Fuzaki hiding in the Sector 5 slums. Grimoire had been distraught and could barely sleep until the day Officer- now Captain- Hideo had called and reported to him.

A knock came at the door. Vincent, now closing in on 11 years old, ran up to answer. He pulled the door open and a tall, red- haired woman came in. Vincent looked up and smile at her. "Hello, little Vinny." "Hello, Jojo." Jolisa was Their housekeeper after Vincent's mother was murdered. Grimoire could hardly keep up with the house with HIS job; he scarcely even had time for his son. Grimoire had been getting ready for work. About fifteen minutes after she had arrived, Grimoire stepped out of the door holding a half dozen papers and files. He looked away from his documents to his son and maid. "Hello, Vincent. Good morining, Miss Kilokovich." Vincent looked up from his breakfast and Jolisa from her newspaper. "Morning, Father." "Hello, Mister Valentine."

As always, Jolisa had made coffee for Grimoire to take to work. SHe also made a smaller pot for herself later on while she did housework. He poured a cup and stuck what was left in a tall, grey thermos. He patted his son on the head and as he walked out the front door, he called back "I'm getting off work early tonight, so I'll pick you up from school and we'll be in Midgar by tonight." Vincent nodded and went to take another bite. He paused and set his silverware aside. he took what was left of his breakfast and put it into the trash. Jolisa looked at him questioningly as he blocked the drain to the sink and ran some water to do his dishes. In her five years of knowing him, he had always seemed... quiet and somewhat secretive; but he never once did dishes before supper. "Vincent," she asked as she got up to help him, "Is something wrong?" Vincent scrubbed unnecisarily hard as he declined her suspicions. "No. Nothing's wrong." "Vincent," she said sternly, " I think you're lying to me. What's wrong, sweetie, I promise I can at least TRY to help."

VIncent kept his head down and put his now- clean dishes in the sink and drained the water. He rinsed them and put them in the dish- drainer. Keeping his head down, he walked back over to the table and sat down in his chair. Jolisa got two coffee cups and poured some coffee into one with cream and sugar and the other straight. She walked over to Vincent and sat the black coffee in front of him and sat back down in her seat. "Here. We'll talk about this like grownups do." Vincent looked at the cup in front of him and back to her. "Father says I'm not supposed to-" She cut him off. "Well, we'll just have to hope he doesn't find out about this, won't we? Now, MISTER Valentine. What seems to be the problem?" Vincent smiled at her weakly and took a sip of his coffee. "Father.... he- he always looks so... depressed; tired. He has ever since mom died. And he- he," unable to finish because of the tears welling up in his eyes, he looked down into his reflection in the cup. He hated it. Every time he looked at himself in he mirror, he only saw a sly picture of his father. It was his eyes. Other than those liitle red balls of fire, he looked just like Utada. People never noticed THAT, though.

Jolisa looked at him. She felt his pain. She never really had parents in her life either; through work and her going to school. She leaned over and stroked Vincents hair. "I know," she told him "You need your father in your life. Everyone does. Your father- he works a lot. And I know how you feel; my dad did too. You barely get to see him, so you feel like there's something missing in your heart. But, believe me, don't try to substitute having him for something else. I feel a little bad for you. Your mother.... passed away. The man who shot her.... ran off," she paused to look out the window to look for his bus. It was his last day of school in Wutai. Shortly before Captain Hideo had found Fuzaki, Grimoire had informed both Vincent and Jolisa that they were moving to the plate on Midgar. Jolisa would be going with them, but Vincent was depressed about having to leave his friends behind. What few friends he HAD, anyway.

Vincent wiped his eyes and looked at her. "It's okay.... if he doesn't have time.... I know he doesn't.... But, I wish that mom was here.... maybe then he wouldn't be so sad." Jolisa embraced her small companion. She heard his school bus coming around the bend. "Best you get ready, Vincent," she told him. The boy nodded and took up his backpack. It was going to be one of the hardest moments in his life thus far. He looked back at Jolisa with sad eyes as he stepped onto the yellow vehicle for the very... last... time... 'He's growing up far too fast,' she thought as she shook her head. She looked at Vincent's coffee cup, still sitting in front of her. Still half- full...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Last Day

Vincent walked toward the doors of the large Wutainese school. As usual, two teachers stood by the door on watch duty. A motherly old woman walked past the swarm of children passing the doors. "Vincent," she called "Vincent Valentine!" The 10- year- old walked towad her. "Yes, Mrs. Boseitekina?" She motioned him to come with her. "Come along, Vincent, I have something for you."

They walked through the crowded halls untill they got to a small room. It was Mrs. Boseitekina's hoomeroom. Vincent had her for almost all of his classes this year and was her brightest student. She walked over to a file cabinet as Vincent looked around his 'second home'; a sanctuary to him. She unlocked the cold, metal door and grabbed out a large binder, bound in leather. "Vincent," she said," Have a seat." The young boy did as he was told. The kindly woman found a seat next to him and layed the worn- down casing in front of him. Vincent looked at her and she nodded in approval.

He opened the binder to see all of his classmates staring at him. His class photo. He flipped through the pages; pages and pages of pictures taken throughout the year. 'Old memories' he thought. He paused at a page about a quarter of the way through. He and his best friend- one of his only friends- Tobi, were sitting at the same table, eating icecream and grinning while talking about some indistinguished topic. Vincent remembered it well. It was one of ther only times he could remember ever having felt like a normal kid. A tear silently fell down his cheek. He knew he would have to leave all of this; his classmates, his teachers, his friends; behind. The teacher brushed the tear from his face as he solemnly continued to flip throught the pages of his school memories. On the last two pages, there was a letter; signed by all of the students in his grade.

Dear Vincent,

From all of us to you, we hope that you will be happy when you leave here today. We hope that you will impress your new teachers and classmates with your ability to learn. We hope that you will be able to make new friends who can see the smart, loving young boy that you are. Make it simple. Make it fun.

Always by your side,

Mrs. Boseitekina's 9th Grade Class

Vincent closed the binder and looked up at his teacher with watery eyes. "Mrs. Boseitekina," he wimpered as he fell into her arms, sobbing softly. She gently stroked his hair and reassured him "It's okay, Vincent. You'll do fine..."

Throughout the rest of the day, he didn't answer a single question, but he payed attention. At the end of the day, his classmates and his friends and his teachers lined up on the stairs and waved goodbye. His father pulled up in his old Grand Am and shouted for his son to get in the car; that they were leaving. Vincent climbed into the back seat and continued to wave untill he could no longer see his friends. He slowly turned back around and put his seatbelt on. "Did you have a good last day?" His 10- year- old didn't answer. His father looked at him through the rear- view mirror. "Is something wrong," he asked. "I don't really feel like talking about it," he informed his father. Grimoire simply shook off the comment and kept driving; Jolisa in the passenger seat; Vincent in the back; untill they got to Midgar.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: First Day

Vincent walked through the empty hallways, trying to get to his first class. He found the room number and stepped through the door. Evidently, he'd gotten in late; all of the other students were already in their seats. The teacher looked over at the door and his face beamed. "Ah," he exclaimed to his pupils, "This must be our new student! Come here, child!" Vincent shyly made his way to this new mentor and faced his new classmates. "Class, this young man is Vincent Valentine. He's just moved in from Wutai and he'll be your classmate for the duration of this year! He's new here in Midgar, so make him feel at home, okay? Vincent, why don't you have that empty seat near Darsy over there." He pointed the seat out to the boy and one small girl raised her hand. "Yes, Kadie?" "Mr. LeFollette? Why do his eyes look so funny?" The teacher was taken aback. He looked to Vincent to apologize. "It's okay," he said nervously, "I was expecting that." He swiftly sat in his seat and pulled out a notebook. The young teacher sighed and turned to the board. "Okay class, time to start a new lesson. Can anyone tell me the name of at least ONE of the ships that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World?" The class was stilled with confusion. One small hand went up near the back. The tutor's face lit up once again."Yes, Vincent?" "If I'm right, they were the Santa Maria, the Niña, and the Pinta." The class of 10 and 11- year- olds looked at the boy strangely. Even the teacher was impressed. "Th- that's right... Good job, Vincent."

Things continued like that throughout the day, even as they switched classes going to different subjects. Vincent kept getting jabs from the students about his ethnicity and Vincent kept answering the majority of the questions. All of his teachers were stunned. In a unanimous decision made during their lunch break, they decided that they would have to talk to his father to see about getting him into classes a little more suited to his level. A small band of boys were getting sick of Vincent making them look bad. Vincent had Gym with these boys for his last class. Once the instructor had let them go back into the locker rooms to change, they approched him.

"Hey, uhh... Valentine, wasn't it?" He only acknowledged the boys by looking at them as he continued to get changed. "Yea, well, you think you could maybe lay off the smarts for a while," the tallest boy, obviously the leader asked him. A smaller, red- headed boy with a scar across his face came forward. "Yea! You're makin us look dumb." Vincent pulled his shirt over his head. "Heh. Why should I restrict my abilities for you," he argued," What have you ever done but limit yourselves and continue to ridicule my Wutainese ancestry?" The leader of the group grabbed Vincent's collar. "Listen, slant, we asked nicely. Now you're gonna stop makin' us look bad or ELSE!" Vincent looked the boy dead in the eyes and simply answered "No." The boy's free arm drew back and Vincent saw the other boys developing crazed grins on their faces. Before Vincent knew it, he was on the ground, being kicked, punched and cursed by this possee. It seemed like an eternity before they finally stopped. The end-of- school bell rang and the boys left Vincent laying there, bleeding from a broken nose, a big black eye, cracked ribs and a broken arm. Miraculously, he managed to get himself on his feet and walked into the hallways; empty again because everyone had left. However, there were still some teachers left in their rooms with papers to grade. Mr. LeFollette was one of them, and Vincent's belongings were still in the back of his room.

He snuck into the room, trying his best to go unnoticed, but he didn't seem to realize that he was breathing harshly through his mouth. The man looked up toward his 'prized' student. "Ah! Vincent! Just the person I wanted to see!" The boy looked up at his mentor and panicked. He grabbed his equipment and hustled out the door, not looking at the man again. He kept his head down. grabbed the child's arm in his hand, not knowing it was broken. Vincent cried out in pain. Taken aback, the teacher finally saw his battered student's injuries. "Vincent," he asked sternly, "who did this to you?" "I- i'm fine! R-really!" "No you're not! Vincent, you're seriously hurt. You need to go to a hospital! I'm calling your father and telling him what's happened. Wait here." As Vincent watched his teacher go to his phone, he suddenly felt a desperate need to cry. A need he gave into, partially because of the pain, mosly because he was afraid of what his father would think of him getting in a fight- let alone losing it. When Mr. LeFollette ended the call, he went to Vincent and held him, comforting him. He knew the kid had to be terrified. He adjusted his glasses and told Vincent he would be okay and that an ambulance was on it's way.

(AN: Poor Vinny! I so totally need ideas. I just kinda make this all up as I go along! This chapter took me a while to think up... SOMEWHAT SPOILER: Next Chap: Vinny is going to a different school- Two grades ahead of what he's supposed to be in! This is where he will meet the friend he's always needed! Thank you all for your support! It's much needed!)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Second Chance

Vincent once again walked through a hallway of a new school. A junior high this time. He opened the door to his new classroom and walked across the tile flooring to the teacher's desk. "Excuse me, Mr. Willoghby? I'm Vincent Valentine." The older man looked first at the boy, then at his census chart. "Well, then, young man," he said, "I suppose we'd best find you a seat then, shouldn't we?" Searching out a seat for his new pupil, something came to his attention. "Say, son, you wouldn't happen to know what you have the first few periods, would you?" Vincent cocked his head to one side, thinking over his schedual. "Umm... Ancient History, I think... Then Science; then Langauge." "Well, then, you're schedual's more or less the same as Mr. Steinmetz's over there," he informed him, pointing out a lean brunette at the far end of the classroom, "Would you mind making sure that Mr. Valentine here gets to all of his classes okay?" The preteen nodded.

As the bell rang, marking the start of first period, Vincent grabbed his satchel and followed the brunette out the door. "So, you're new here, huh," he asked the younger. Vincent almost laughed; the boy had a really obvious, really _thick _German accent. He nooded his head as he continued to follow the older boy down the overly- cramped halls. Out of habit, he grabbed the back of his appointed leader's John Deere hoodie. The 12- year- old looked back to see his new classmate clinging to his shirt for fear of getting left behind. "Alright. Welcome, I guess... My name's Verdot Steinmetz... You can call me Veld, if you want to though..." "Okay... Verdot," the Wutainese boy said, "My name's Vincent Valentine... Uh... I guess you can call me Vince... If you want..." The older boy looked back at his classmate and flashed a toothy grin. "Alright, Vincent."

The taller of the two led them into a relatively minutive room with teal- blue carpeting. Vincent let go of the cotton sweatshirt as the elder turned to face him. "This," the boy started, "is Ms. Katina's room. Everyone in our grade calls her Julia, though." The raven quirked his head. "I thought it was supposed to be _disrespectful_ to call a teacher by their first name..." Verdot shrugged his shoulders and walked to their tutor's desk, not particularly _caring_ about the statement. "She doesn't seem to mind," he called back. Vincent moved to a corner, out of the other student's path, and waited patiently as Verdot explained his situation to the instructor. Smiling wide, she walked over to the boy, introducing herself. "I can see you're a little younger than the rest of the class. Hmm... I think I can make arrangements for you to sit somewhere closer to the board." She turned to a blonde- haired boy sitting near the middle of the room and instructed him to take his seat in the back of the row.

Verdot helped the young woman pass out a stack of workbooks to the class. He smiled as he handed a red booklet to Vincent, receiving assertions from a group of adolecents in the back of the room. "Hey, look guys," jabbed a shorter boy with dark blonde hair, "looks like the Hun made a friend!" The young man sitting next to him verified the statement with a scoff. "Yeah, with a friggin' _chink_!" Muffled laughter and snickers filled the room, causing Vincent to look down at his desk, ashamed. All turned silent from the posse following Verdot's infamous death- glare. A meek brunette in pigtails turned to face her younger classmate. "Don't bother listening to them; they're nobodies with nothing to laugh at but their own stupidity." She waited for Verdot to pass them into the next row of students, looking almost nervous. "I _would_ look out if I were you, though... Veld's gotten a bit of a bad rep lately. He keeps getting into fights." "I hear he even beat up a sophomore," whispered the boy sitting before her, "His name's feared through the entire Middle- School!" Vincent looked at he two, unsure of the information he had been given, then cast his gaze toward Verdot. 'He couldn't be _that_ scary... could he?'

After he had passed the rest of the workbooks around, Verdot casually placed himself into the seat across from Vincent, more- than- casually placing his tan, steel- toed boots down on the younger's desk with a loud **thunk**. Vincent grinned at him as he flipped through the pages of the booklet. "We are starting section 3, Vince." The boy nodded his head and turned to the correct page. 'Question one,' he read silently,' what was used as a means of food preservation in Ancient Rome?' He read over the anwers and filled in the bubble with the answer "salt". Vincent continued filling out the question sheets as he went along, stopping occasionally to look through the pages of the over- sized textbook in the tray under his desk. Verdot tried to grab the boy's attention by repeating his name five times, then switching to snapping his fingers. He finally obtained his classmate's consideration when he clapped his hands adjacent Vincent's ear. The Wutainese boy jumped in shock; looking at his companion. "What the heck was _that_ for?!" Verdot smirked. "I said 'We're _starting_ section 3', not 'We're half- way through it, so you need to hurry up and get caught _up_.' Relax; there's no need to be so uptight. If you have questions, you come to me, got that?" Vincent grinned and nodded his head, acknowledging the young man's command. "I get it. It's just that I already know the answers and even the one's I don't are _in_ the book. It's not that hard to look up answers." Verdot shrugged off the comment. "Okay, class, open your books to page 92 and your workbooks to page 20."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Let's Talk

Vincent looked over his shoulder towards the pre- teen calling his name. Slowing his pace, he let his companion catch his breath. "Man, that was a run! Coach Kraimer can be a real pill, you know." Vincent chuckled. "No idea; I haven't had Phys Ed yet. So where are you headed to, Veld?" "Lunch," he responded through the fabric of his pulled his head through the opening and continued to follow Vincent to the cafeteria. "Heh. Coincidental; I'm having lunch right now, too." The two students walked side- by- side into the line of classmates, waitning patienly to receive their food.

"So," Veld started," tell me about yourself. Where'd you go to school before this? What is your favorite subject? Was the food at your old school better than it is here?" Vincent laughed at the last question. "Well, first I went to Okanawa Elementary 3rd Provence, then I moved to Midgar. I went to Kenmoore Elementary for all of a day, then I came here. And the food here is just as bad," he finished with a chuckle. "Oh, and my favorite subject is reading." Verdot took a bite of the pizza the school was serving that day and grimaced. "Reading? Ugh... Why on God's green earth do you like _reading_? It's so boring...well, at least the books the _teachers_ make us read." Vincent bit off part of his chicken sandwich as he inquired why Verdot would think such a thing. "I don't like reading about dogs and hunting some stupid _racoon_. Give me book like Eye of the Dragon and I'll be entertained. Personally, though, I'd rather learn about Nero and Julius Ceaser! Now _that's_ a lesson plan!" The two laughed and exchanged comments about the other's likes and dislikes.

"Hey, newbie," boasted a stranger, "why don't you ditch the Hun and come sit by us? We'll show ya a good time!" He mocked a punch on Vincent's shoulder. Verdot looked at his friend questioningly as he watched the boy cringe and clamp his arms over his head, stuttering panickedly in Wutainese . The small band of students looked at each other doubtfully and left the two boys. "Vincent," Verdot snapped in his shock, "Vincent, they're _gone_! What's wrong with you?" He shot up and grabbed Vincent by the shoulders. "Vince, look at me. They weren't going to hurt you, they're just being jerks." Verdot's eyes softened as his acquaintance looked up at him, eyes wide with terror. "V-Vince... what in the _world_...?" Vincent shook his head, standing up from the table. "Gomen Nasai!" Verdot froze in place, stunned as he watched the boy make his way to the restrooms down the hall. Regaining his composure, he followed Vincent into the corridor.

As he followed Vincent, he heard the slamming of a stall door, followed by wretching sounds that made Verdot cringe. He walked into the row of stalls and searched out the one containing his comrade. The sound of another gag filled the air followed by panting. Verdot entered the small enclosure and put a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder. He winced when he saw Vincent's flushed face. The Wutainese boy covered his mouth and bent over the bowl for a third time, resting his head on the cool porcelain. "Veld," he mumbled, "boku wa honto ni gomen nasai. Kimi ga boku wa yurusu, sumimasen." Verdot shook his head. "You know, Vin, I can't understand a word you just said." Vincent glanced at him. "I'm.. really sorry... Please forgive me..." he sighed as his eyes fluttered shut. "I... got into a fight at my last school... they really... they broke my arm and nose... I was just so scared... I'm sorry." The brunette tightened his grip on the boy's shoulder. "Don't be. And don't worry; I'll make sure no one hurts you. They'll think twice before getting _near_ you, okay?"

Vincent looked at his newfound friend and nodded. He knew he'd have to go home; the staff would not allow him to stay in school after throwing up three times. 'How am I going to explain this to dad and Jo?' he sighed inwardly, 'Dad'll _kill _me...' He shook silently, choking back his sobs. "Vince," Verdot said, attempting to comfort his friend, "don't worry. I'm sure that the teachers will understand-" Vincent cut him off. "It's not the teachers I'm worried about, it's my dad. He's got enough to worry about without me being such a-" "Don't... say it... You're not weak... you're not stupid... and most importantly, you're _not_ a wuss. If he doesn't understand your situation, then shame on him. _Sheizer_, Vincent, most people your age that got beaten that bad wouldn't be able to _enroll_ in a public school again!" Vincent picked himself off of the floor. His stomach was on fire and his head was spinning, but with Veld's help- and nearly all of the valor he could manage- he sluggishly made his way to the principal's office and called Jolisa to take him home. As he climbed into the passenger seat of Jolisa's Sedan, he rested his feverish forehead on the glass window. Looking once again toward the doors of the main hall, he caught a glimpse of Verdot waving goodbye to him. He lifted his hand in response.


End file.
